The department of earth and environmental sciences
hosted Dr. Ellyn Enderlin, '08, on Friday to speak about her post-doctorate
research on the change in mass of glaciers in Greenland.

The presentation was entitled "Glaciers Gone Wild: Rapid
Change in Greenland Glacier Behavior Initiated at Ocean's Edge." It was a part
of the undergraduate research symposium that took place on the same day.

Enderlin graduated from Lehigh with a degree in environmental
science and continued her studies at the Ohio State University, where she
completed an M.S. in geological sciences and a Ph.D. in earth sciences.

Enderlin's research in Greenland has consisted of
measuring the marine glaciers' change in mass, as well as making estimates of
the change.

"Temporal gaps in glacier speed and thickness
observations has increased the amount of uncertainty," Enderlin said.

The importance of the speed and thickness of a
glacier is that these factors affect the way the glacier melts and what the
result of the melting is, she said.

For instance, Enderlin studies whether glaciers will
descend into shallow water or whether they will descend into deep water, which
has higher water pressure and therefore expedites the melting process.

"There are a lot of gaps in our understanding of
glaciers," she said. Limited observation of ice, ocean, atmosphere and bedrock
boundaries have slowed progress in the field.

"We need to improve our understanding and
competence and analyze time series of glacier dynamics," Enderlin said.

Runoff from melting has increased significantly
since the 1990s, which has greatly increased the cumulative mass loss of
glaciers. Enderlin said approximately 3,000 gigatons of glaciers have been
lost, which has brought about an eight millimeter increase in sea level.

Submarine melting has contributed to a sizable
amount of mass loss due to the intersection of the glacier ice and warmer ocean
water. Measuring submarine melting is both difficult and dangerous, as the two
most common methods for collecting data are expensive and incur a great deal of
uncertainty, Enderlin said.

Lidar, which Enderlin likened to a laser pointer
that measures distance, can pick up on numerous icebergs in water, which
creates room for error.

The other measurement method involves a costly
raft-like apparatus that travels to the base of the glaciers, allowing data
collection to be done.

Enderlin closed her presentation with a five part
take-away: Glaciers dynamically accelerate and thin in response to changes in
their stress balance; changes in Greenland's ice discharge is driven by about
five main glaciers; changes in Greenland's ice sheet mass loss have been due to
changes in mass loss, not to glacial discharge; increased submarine melting may
trigger dynamic glacial loss; and melt rates can be used to estimate changes in
tidewater glacial melting.

Many earth and environmental sciences
undergraduates were in attendance at the seminar.

"It was good to see a successful Lehigh alum environmental
science major," said Chris Geist,'14.

Cody Raup, '14, agreed.

"It was a unique talk because it gave us something
to aspire to as students," he said.